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Ma liabraes 


What an American 
Diplomat said about 


Missions and Miissionaries 


in China 


An American Diplomat 
on Missions in China 


OME time ago a 

What a United clergyman 
States Minister called at the Church 
to China said Missions House to 
about Missions explain why he did 
and Missionartes not intend to com- 
ply with a request to 

urge his congregation to larger effort on 
behalf of missions. Briefly, his explana- 
tion was this: That most of hig people 
believe that the Chinese outbreak of 1900 
was due to interference with native re- 
ligions, and that therefore the mission- 
aries, and the Board which appoints 
them, ought not to receive further finan- 
cial support. Just why this opinion, 
even if it were based on fact, should be 
an excuse for refusal to support the 
Church’s mission among the white peo- 
ple, or the Indians, or the Negroes of our 
own land, was not explained. There 
seemed little use in arguing the question. 
If people will insist upon misinterpreting 
facts, perhaps the most that can be done 
for the present is to hope that they may 
be given repentance and better minds. 
Those who desire the testimony of an 
eye-witness to strengthen their own con- 


viction, if it needs strengthening, and 
to correct the error of those who know 
all about the pernicious (?) influence of 
Christian missions upon the Chinese, 
will be interested in some remarks made 
shortly before his lamented death last 
January, by the Hon. Charles Denby, 
for several years United States Minister 
at Peking. As the representative of his 
Government abroad, Mr. Denby con- 
ceived it to be his duty to acquaint him- 
self fully with missionary work in 
China. He visited all of the larger and 
many of the smaller mission points. 
Wherever he went he inspected every 
station. He entered the schools and ex- 
amined the work of the missionary teach- 
ers and their pupils. He went through 
the missionary hospitals. He attended 
missionary conferences, and, unlike 
many of those who consider themselves 
competent to pass judgment upon mis- 
sionary work abroad, he actually attended 
Church services, and he met the mission- 
aries in their homes. As a result, he be- 
came convinced that the missionaries 
have not received their proper due at the 
hands of the world. 


R. DENBY 

What the summed up his 
Missionaries Do observations by say- 
ing: “They are do- 

ing good work. They merit all the sup- 


port that philanthropy can give them. 
In China the missionaries are the leaders 
in every charitable work. They give to 
the natives largely out of their scanty 
earnings, and they honestly administer 
the alms of others. When famine arrives 
—and it comes every year—or the riy- 
ers inundate the soil with never ceasing 
frequency, the missionary is the first and 
the last to give his time and labor to alle- 
viate suffering. They are the writers of 
books for the Chinese. They are inter- 
preters for them and the Legations. The 
first graduates of the finest Western ccl- 
leges supply and practise surgery—an 
unknown art among the Chinese. They 
fight the demon opium. About their re- 
ligious work I have only this to say, 
that he who teaches Christianity teaches 
modern civilization. They have crowded 
schools and churches. They make con- 
verts—many of them. There is back- 
sliding in China as there is backsliding 
here; but the general trend of progress 
goes on.” 


6c HE merchants, 


The the seamen, 
Missionary the diplomatists and 
as a Trade the consuls have done 
Promoter much to open up 


China to commerce,” 
he continued, “but the missionary has 
also done his share. Therein comes in 


our worldly interest—the interest of the 
non-religious man, of the merchant, the 
carrier and the manufacturer. It must be 
admitted that civilization promotes trade 
—that the more a nation becomes civil- 
ized the greater are the wants of the peo- 
ple. Then, if the missionary promotes 
civilization, he also promotes trade. 
When he opens a school he opens also a 
market. Inspired by holy zeal, he goes 
to countries that were never trod by the 
merchant’s foot; and, soon, our textiles, 
our iron, our flour, our coal oil and many 
other things, are regularly bought by 
eager customers. To the missionary all 
these results are subsidiary to his holy 
purpose. His supreme object is to con- 
vert the heathen, and the colleges, the 
schools, the doctors, and the charity are 
but means toward this end.” 

We quote these words not because 
the missionaries need them, but be- 
cause people at home need to know 
how the work of missions is regarded 
by the men who have the best right 
to express an opinion because of their 
personal investigation. Those who 
know anything at all of the facts know 
that the missionary is the most popular 
and respected of foreigners, because he 
lives with the people, speaks their lan- 
guage, enters into their life and under- 
stands their point of view. When riots 


occur, it is natural that the missionaries 
should be the first to suffer because they 
occupy the most exposed points. People 
who try to fasten the blame on the mis- 
sionaries forget that the despatches from 
well-informed and authoritative sources 
in China at the time of the Boxer out- 
break made no such unsupportable 
statements. 





Facts Concerning the Church's 
Work in China 


The field assigned to the Episcopal 
Church embraces a large part of the val- 
ley of the Yangste River, extending 1,000 
miles from Shanghai to Ichang in Central 
China, and about 150 miles north and 
south on either side of the river. 

This field is divided into two mission- 
ary districts: 

1. Shanghai, which embraces the proy- 
ince of Kiangsu, population about 
25,000,000; Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Frederick 
R. Graves, D.D. 

2. Hankow, which embraces the prov- 
inces of Nganwhei, Hupeh, and portions 
of Hunan, and Kiangsi; population about 
80,000,000. The bishopric at present is 
vacant, owing to the recent death of the 
Rt. Rev. James Addison Ingle. 


The Work and the Workers 


In the District of Shanghai there are 
central stations at Shanghai, Soochow, 
Wusih, and Zangzok, with out-stations at 
a number of smaller places. 

In the District of Hankow there are 
central stations at Hankow, Wuchang, 
Ichang, Wuhu, Neganking, Kiukiang, 
Changsha, Shasi and Hsinti, with out-sta~ 
tions at a number of smaller places. 

The staff for both districts numbers: 
twenty-two American clergymen, seven 
physicians and thirty-nine teachers and 
other workers. There are also twenty-six 
Chinese clergy and 162 other Chinese 
helpers. 

In addition to churches and chapels, six 
boarding-schools for boys and girls and 
five hospitals for men, women and chil- 
dren are maintained. 

The present appropriation for the sup- 
port of work in both districts is $95,729. 
The Chinese communicants at the present 
time number about 1,500; the baptized 
members about 3,500. 

The work is producing excellent results. 
Greater progress is being made now than 
ever before. Our missionaries have to 
deny requests from the Chinese to open 
new stations because the present staff is 
too small to meet all the opportunities 
for work. 





This leaflet may be obtained from THE 
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 281 
Fourth Avenue, New York, by calling for 
Leaflet No. 974. 

All offerings for missions should be sent 
to Mr. GEORGE C. THOMAS, Treasurer, 


Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Ave- 
nue, New York. 


